Posts Tagged "child care"

If your child was injured at her daycare as a result of a teacher’s negligence, or sexually abused at his nursery school, would the daycare or school be able to respond in damages? Would the child care provider be capable of providing the money necessary to pay for needed medical care, surgery, or psychological therapy? Most people would probably think that Florida daycares and nursery schools are required by law to carry liability insurance, but anyone who thinks this would be wrong. What got me thinking about this issue was seeing a story on insurancejournal.com detailing a new law that was recently passed by the Nebraska legislature. The new law requires licensed child care providers in Nebraska to carry at least $100,000.00 in liability insurance coverage. The law passed the Nebraska legislature by a final vote of 42-0. (That doesn’t happen very often in any state legislature these days, and usually means everybody thinks the law is a good idea.) My first thought was, “$100,000.00 is not a very high limit when it comes to an injury involving a child.” So I began doing some legal research to find out what Florida’s minimum insurance requirement for child care providers was. I looked and looked, but just couldn’t find the minimum policy limit. Then it dawned on me that the reason I couldn’t find the minimum level of insurance was because there isn’t one. I was shocked, to say the least – particularly since we handle our fair share of child injury and sex abuse cases. Until such time as the Florida Legislature sees fit to require liability insurance coverage for daycares and nursery schools, it would seem to me that the best practice for parents would be to make sure that the school they choose for their kids has liability insurance. Ask for, or demand, proof. If the school won’t provide proof of insurance, you probably want to move on to a different school. If you have any questions regarding a child injury in Florida, or a case involving child sexual abuse, call Winter Park personal injury attorneys Kim Cullen and Robert Hemphill at...